[Wilshire]

Haha thanks FB, I appreciate it. It seems my comments earlier in the thread went largely unnoticed/uncommented.

[mrganondorf]

Yatwer will show up again like she did when she gave Sorweel the chorae pouch. This time she'll give him the Heron Spear. To kill Kellhus

[Wilshire]

There's a nifty idea. The Gods hording worldly treasures and dispensing them as gifts as they please.

[mrganondorf]

this is how i imagine gnostic sorcery looks, a clip from Resident Evil movie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8gfGhVL3qs

[Francis Buck]

Lol pretty much. Just a lot more complex beam/wave patterns and a lot faster.

I actually saw that movie in theaters, and was young enough that the scene creeped me out the hell out.

EDIT: This duel from Harry Potter (of all things) actually made me think of a lot of different sorcery from TSA, especially Voldemort's beam thing (Psukhe water) and the dragonhead:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URbvT_pkAjI

[Wilshire]

Yeah, its easy to see the analogies there, and some Psuke.

The Gnosis would wipe the floor with Voldemort or Dumbledore though.

[Garet Jax]

The Gnosis would wipe the floor with Voldemort or Dumbledore though.

Not sure why, but this made me grin from ear to ear.

[SilentRoamer]

The Gnosis is pretty much the most badass sorcery in a lot of series I have seen.

The One Power from Wheel of Time rivals it - if only because of its complexity.

[Wilshire]

Making it math/logic based if pretty unique, since most sorceries in fantasy would fall into the anagogic realm. Since its defined as stronger than the anagogic sorceries, its almost necessarily stronger than most other magic systems.

[anasurimbor moenghus]

I happen to think that Bakker has done an amazing job setting up the metaphysics of sorcery in his world as it is both coherent and .  The idea that sorcery, like practically everything else in Earwa, turns on meaning and either utilizes pure abstractions (Gnosis), metaphor and analogy (Anagnosis), or what Bakker in an interview called 'the performative kernel of meaning' (Psûkhe).  This means that it is the maintaining of inutteral meanings ultimately that powers all sorcery, the said sorcery being of a power equal to the difficulty of maintaining the meaning to some degree.

[Aural]

Just a question, in AE was it Kellhus’ claim that he changed things so that sorcerers are no longer damned or did he just reveal that they weren’t damned to begin with?

[The Sharmat]

He rewrote scripture. The rules of Inri Sejenus and earlier prophets were the rules that applied at their time but their teachings outlived their usefulness, and Kellhus was sent to amend them for the new age.

This is Zaudunyani scripture, as far as I know.

[mrganondorf]

me too - i've never read of a magic system as cool as Bakker's.  the mechanism just isn't that developed in many books.  off the top of my head

harry potter - point wand, speak latin, sometimes do a hand motion
lord of the rings - nothing, it's just elf uber-craftmanship and the occasional neato burning pine cone
johnathan strange - here there are some cool bits about specific incantations, but nothing like Bakker's stuff (although i wouldn't change that about js&mr norrell)

i can't think of any comparable magic systems.  i keep hearing Sanderson does cool stuff, but i haven't gotten around to him

[Wilshire]

Most magics are of the 'speak word, do magic' type.

Eragon (Inheritance Cycle) - same thing, though with the addition of magic = natural strength, which makes doing thinking through spells and phrasing them important. Like, a spell for killing someone by severing neurons, rather than choking them. A pretty well fleshed out system, though plenty of vagueness as well.

Drizzt / Forgotten Realms / D&D : Memorize spell, speak words, magic.

i still think that most are anagogic-type sorcery. Want fire? Speak Fire/dragon breath/etc.

[The Sharmat]

Wheel of Time has a fairly fleshed out magic system but I'm hesitant to recommend it.